Yes, he should be starting. The NBA is all about star players, especially star 2-way players. There is no point in waiting for Sharpe to get way,way better than the guy he will be replacing, which would be Simons or Lillard. Sharpe is already clearly better on defense than Simons or Lillard, it's not close there. Sharpe can actually defend in the paint, where Simons and Lillard are almost always burnt toast.
Had a major change in opinion after 16 minutes of meaningful basketball. 16 minutes! Shaedon Sharpe MRI Update 2022-23 Portland Trail Blazers Roster
They call the point where a rookie has played more games in his first NBA season than in any season he has ever played in college a point where his play might drop off from fatigue. The Rookie Wall.
Is that like an Oregon Ducks green or just really sick puke green? Uh oh changed the topic again? At least i didn't mention Melo? Oooops did it again. Mods Merge!
He shouldn’t be starting. I like that he can get his feet wet against 2nd units. Also, our bench scoring would be absolutely horrific without him… Unless you move Ant to the bench…
Listening to Rob Perez's recap call-in show last night, and two different Blazer fans got on and were downright depressed and he kept having to check - 'your team did win tonight, right?'. The poor man is unfamiliar with our fanbase.
We can't have 6 guys on the floor. Yes, Simons or Lillard should be on the bench. The starting unit should not have 2 poor defenders, and all over again, they're in the backcourt.
The unit that finished the game had both Simons and Lillard and it had excellent defense. The point is that the real problem is that our center is a slow, earth bound defender. The modern NBA is built on fast, mobile centers that can switch on the perimeter. with Nurk on the floor and 2 not as great one on one defenders in Dame / Ant - the Blazers are really having a problem with switching and really have to play drop-coverage to have any kind of effective defense that does not put Nurk on an island. That's why Stotts played so much drop-coverage, it is the only reasonable option for long stretches with a guy like Nurk. The team can have 2 "sub par" defenders if the other 3 are good. The problem that starting unit has is that while Nurk is a good rim protector and an OK one on one post defender, he is a poor perimeter defender in the modern NBA, so the Blazers play with 2 "sub par" individual defenders and one sub par switching defender for the kind of switching defense Chauncy wants to play.
Seems to me that Chauncey is bringing him around just right. Ease him into it. 16-18 minutes a game is perfect.....for now.